We cannot continue to use commodity prices to justify the current situation our economy is in, says New Ireland Governor Sir Julius Chan.
In a recent press conference, the former prime minister said: “We all know that the government is going through very tough times.
“The current economic and financial situation did not happen yesterday or last year. It started building up a long time ago.”
Sir Julius said when PNG was going through a reasonably balanced budget, the government opted for a deficit budget.
“You and I know that the time to paint the roof is when the sun is shining. The sun was shining very bright about four or five years ago.
“We should have painted the roof, we should have taken the surplus money and set it aside for a rainy day.”
The governor said “we are squealing today” because of this lack of foresight.
“We were actually achieving the status of a reasonable, balanced budget, but we chose to spend more than we earn.
“We chose to go and borrow money, we chose to buy shares and we chose to build up images and getting international conventions…these are some of the root causes.”
Sir Julius is therefore hoping for a more educated election where people will vote for what they truly believe will happen, rather than what will happen after someone gets elected.